近日，刊登在《加拿大医学协会期刊》（Canadian Medical Association Journal）上的一项研究结果表明，加拿大青少年的整体自杀率在过去近30年间呈下降趋势，但青少年女性的自杀率却不断上升。
根据这项研究调查，加拿大10～19岁人群自杀率在1980至2008年期间略有下降。报告的主要作者、加拿大公共卫生局的流行病学家罗宾·斯金纳（Robin Skinner）说：“我们想传递的信息是，任何自杀都是悲剧，现在的趋势令人非常担忧。”
根据这项调查，1980年，加拿大每10万名年龄介于10～14岁的女孩中，有0.6人自杀；到2008年时，这一数字上升到了0.9人。而对于年龄介于15～19岁的女孩，1980年时每10万人中有3.7人自杀，2008年则增至6.2人。
研究还发现，15～19岁男孩的自杀率明显下降，1980年时每10万人中有19人自杀，到2008年时该人数已降至仅为6.2名。而10～14岁男孩的自杀率没有明显变化，2008年，该年龄阶段的男孩中每10万人有1.6人自杀。
整体看来，自杀是继意外事故之后导致加拿大10～19岁人群死亡的第二大原因，该国青少年选择自杀的方式已从过去的开枪或服毒，转变为自缢致死。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1503/cmaj.111867
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Suicide among children and adolescents in Canada: trends and sex differences, 1980–2008
Robin Skinner, Steven McFaull
Background: Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young Canadians (10–19 years of age) - a disturbing trend that has shown little improvement in recent years. Our objective was to examine suicide trends among Canadian children and adolescents.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of standardized suicide rates using Statistics Canada mortality data for the period spanning from 1980 to 2008. We analyzed the data by sex and by suicide method over time for two age groups: 10–14 year olds (children) and 15–19 year olds (adolescents). We quantified annual trends by calculating the average annual percent change (AAPC).
Results: We found an average annual decrease of 1.0% (95% confidence interval [CI] –1.5 to –0.4) in the suicide rate for children and adolescents, but stratification by age and sex showed significant variation. We saw an increase in suicide by suffocation among female children (AAPC = 8.1%, 95% CI 6.0 to 10.4) and adolescents (AAPC = 8.0%, 95% CI 6.2 to 9.8). In addition, we noted a decrease in suicides involving poisoning and firearms during the study period.
Interpretation: Our results show that suicide rates in Canada are increasing among female children and adolescents and decreasing among male children and adolescents. Limiting access to lethal means has some potential to mitigate risk. However, suffocation, which has become the predominant method for committing suicide for these age groups, is not amenable to this type of primary prevention.
